by Alys Landale
Tom knew what she was getting at but couldn’t respond before Meylin cut in.
“Adapt!? Do you mean to say he’s some kind of Borg?!” she asked.
Tom just rolled his eyes before replying. “Something like that,” he told her. He then disregarded the startled stares of those around him and focused his attention back on Aria. “You have a plan,” he stated more than asked.
She smiled somewhat sardonically before turning to Danag and saying. “Yes. A diversion.”
“Shoot them NOW!” roared Takma.
The fighters were getting on her last nerve. True, they couldn’t penetrate her shielding, but they also wouldn’t allow her to get a clear shot at the other vessel as well. She wondered why Voyager hadn’t yet ensued into battle.
*Let them stay behind* she thought.
Her thoughts were trained on more important matters after all.
“I want two torpedoes on intercept trajectories for those Fighters,” ordered Kail. He had sat back as Takma had given orders long enough. It was time he took matters into his own hands.
The Parvanian guards in shuttlebay two thought they heard something, but that was ridiculous. The outer doors were sound proof. And besides that, nothing could happen. No one had ever been dumb enough to break ‘inside’ an Imperial concentration camp. Even the computer virus and explosion could be explained. They had experienced slight bugs in their system before. This was no more than an engineer’s oversight. Soon they would be up and running as usual.
Another guard then entered the room from outside.
The head of security approached the newcomer. So infuriated was he at this lack of professionalism that he didn’t notice the doors to shuttlebay were still open.
“What is the meaning of this!” he barked. “You were supposed to report in five minutes ago.”
The Parvanian fidgeted at his commander’s remarks. He slid his hand to the butt of his gun at his waist. The man addressing him never noticed the action.
Grabbing the officer by his uniform’s collar, he asked again. “Well, what excuse do you have for yourself?”
The man looked into the superior’s eyes then towards the sidewall where Tom and Sargon crept by. He said. “I’m sorry
Commander but my communicator went offline.
The Commander loosened his grip on the other’s shirt. He then turned away. “That is no excuse, next time...”
His sentence was cut off by an insolent remark from his inferior. “Believe me you won’t live to see a next time.” Before the Commander could turn around. The speaker had pulled a gun and had it positioned at his superior’s back.
“Don’t move or he dies!” yelled out the captor. He then turned his attention to his hostage. “Did anyone ever tell you, you really need to work on your people skills?”
One of the other guards then raised his gun towards the two. He never had the chance to fire though, since Paris shot him down before he could pull the trigger. The other guards came alert at that and began shooting in Paris’s direction. Sargon then stood up at his position to their left and shot two down as Paris took out another as well.
Shots whizzed by as Aria and Meylin uncovered themselves and joined in the gunfire. Together the two women shot five of their own. Paris took out another one from the side. The last unharmed guard managed to get one shot out in Tom’s direction but it went wide as he collapsed to the floor. Aria stood behind the corpse, her gun still glowing from its recent discharge.
Tom nodded his thanks before turning his attention towards the two remaining Imperial soldiers.
The security chief struggled against his captor. “How dare you betray the Empire to these Resistance scum!”
“It’s not my Emp..” He wasn’t allowed to finish his sentence before the hostage elbowed him in the ribs and grabbed the gun from him. Pointing the weapon at the traitor, he prepared to pull the trigger.
The afore mentioned traitor looked up from his position on the floor to watch as the superior aimed his weapon on him and then fell to the floor. Paris took the place of the dead man. Tom looked down at the Parvanian on the floor and then spoke.
“So, I thought you were going to take care of him,” he said.
The security guard got up from his position of the floor. “Hey, I provided the distraction. If you think you can do better I’d like to see you try.”
Tom couldn’t help but smile at the young man’s audacity. “I suppose you’re right. You did provide a nice little distraction Danag.”
The Parvanian’s features then melted away and reformed into the figure of Danag. He strode over to Paris. “You’re damn
right.” he said, then after receiving a steely gaze from Tom, he added. “Of course you did pretty good yourself.”
Xara then ran out from her hiding place and straight towards Tom. He knelt down next to her. “You okay,” he asked.
She nodded. “I didn’t know he was a shape-shifter,” she said.
He looked at Aria as he spoke to the little girl. “I didn’t either. It seems someone forgot to tell me that too.”
Aria just shot him a mischievous grin.
He then took the little girl’s hand as he stood up. “Now we just need to get through that force field and then we’re out of here.”
Danag, now in his original form, walked over to a nearby console. “Give me a few minutes and I can get it down.” He began to furiously push in commands.
Paris let go of Xara’s hand and just strode over to the shuttle but stopped short as he approached the field. “Don’t bother,” he said and then reached out a hand to their barrier. A wall of illuminated ions flickered to life. He gritted his teeth as the electrical charge pulsed through his body. Satira opened her mouth to protest this inhumane act but just stared in awe as his hand passed through the force field and was followed closely by the rest of his body.
Danag just quit his work at the console and muttered, “Never mind.”
Tom then paused at the hatch of the ship and entered. A few seconds later, the force field flickered once more and then dissipated. Tom exited the hatch and walked over to the group. Taking Xara in his arms once more, he addressed the rest of his company. “Shall we be leaving now?”
Janeway realized, as a shot rocked Voyager, that it was useless to try and stay out of this fight. Try as she might, they were caught up in it now and the only way to get out would be to get in the fight.
“Tuvok ready weapons and target their weapons. Mr. Baytart, take us in.”
Raken held his breath as the other ship finally joined in on their fray. It had been a miracle when the two fighters had returned and distracted the Bonthos, but with this other ship, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
He held his breath; if they were going to die he was going to take someone with him.
“Target the other ship. Maybe we can penetrate their shields instead.”
Tom sat Xara down in the Captain’s chair on the bridge of the alien ship.
The others took their positions at what they could determine to be their usual stations. The new technology was considerably more advanced than anything else the Resistance had but they could get the gist of what each console’s function was.
The problem was, they couldn’t understand any of the language.
Tom sat at the Conn. The console before him seemed a little familiar but he couldn’t yet place the connection.
“So how are we supposed to work this ship if we can’t read our consoles?” Asked Meylin.
Tom then answered them with action instead of words. He allowed his Borg-like tentacles to slide through his glove and link to the console. His eyes dilated as he attempted to translate the new language into something the others could understand. He wasn’t aware of how many minutes passed by. All he could feel was his mind merging with the ship’s computer.
The others shifted their attention back and forth from Paris to their console. The images finally changed into something they could understand. Tom then dise
ngaged from his link and leaned back in his chair.
“That help any?” he asked.
He only received awestruck stares from the group. Turning his attention back to his console, he said. “I don’t know about the rest of you but I think it’s time to leave.”
Torres grabbed onto a railing as another shot rocked Voyager. She cursed in Klingon. Couldn’t this ship just stay out of battle for just one week?
There was no time to think about that now. Tom wasn’t here to bail them out with any of his hot shot flight patterns. This caused a tinge of regret but she couldn’t think about that now. She had a ship to keep together.
“Joe, lead a team to replace those ruptured nacelles. Vorik help me stabilize the Warp drive.” She ordered.
*Just another boring day at work,* she thought cynically.
Takma smiled to herself as she saw Voyager enter the fray. At least she knew she had their trust. Which was something few people gave her.
*Well, at least this isn’t a total loss.*
Another torpedo hit their shielding resulting in Takma falling out of her seat.
“Will someone just destroy that ship and get it over with!”
“How are our shields?” Raken asked.
“They’re holding at 30% sir, but I don’t know how long they’ll stay.”
Raken slumped down in his chair. They didn’t have long at this rate.
“Fire everything we’ve got at those ships. Whichever shields fall first, destroy them.”
Tom maneuvered the ship out of shuttlebay. He was still amazed that the Empire had constructed such a large chamber to hold their ships.
Once they were out of the planet’s orbit, Danag read something on sensors. “I’m picking up a battle to our port side. It looks like an Imperial ship and some unknown vessel are attacking Captain Raken.
“Yes I can see that.” Tom said. On the front screen images of the battle played before the crew’s eyes. “Meylin, can you get weapons on line?”
“Aye, I’ve already charged them.”
“Good, cause we’re going in.”
Chakotay reached for the captain so she wouldn’t fall as the ship took another hit.
“Damage.” he called out.
“Shields are at 50% and holding,” said Harry. He paused then spoke up again. “I’m also picking up an unknown ship on sensors. It’s coming our way.”
Janeway’s brow furrowed. “Can you tell whose side it’s on?”
“They are targeting their weapons on us,” replied Tuvok stoically.
She envied his seemingly calm demeanor. “Target their weapons as well but don’t fire until fired upon.”
“Shields are at 15% sir!”
Raken’s face fell as he heard those words. One more hit and they were done for.
He said a silent prayer to the Fates in hopes that a miracle was not too far beyond their powers. But he didn’t expect anymore than the gift of a quick death for all.
“Rune, Raken’s ship can’t take much more. Their shields are already falling.” Aria told Paris.
“Meylin, get those weapons ready and fire on my mark. Sargon give me full power to engines. Danag, get Raken on the Comm.”
Paris began tapping out commands on his console. Now was the time for some brilliant flying. He hoped that he was good enough to do what he had planned.
Firing the engine, he bolted towards the Imperial ship. Hopefully those fighters could keep it occupied long enough to give him the element of surprise. As he neared the Bonthos, he spun his own ship around onto its side and darted between Takma’s vessel and Raken’s. Perhaps this would give the captain a better chance at getting his ship out of there.
Raken waited for the next blow to come. Only he was mistaken. The only thing that appeared was an alien ship darting between him and the torpedoes that would have sent all on his ship to their graves. The new ship flew by in a deftly maneuvered pattern. It sailed past on its side as torpedoes fired from its hull.
Raken praised the Fates as two of the new ship’s shots penetrated the Bonthos’s shielding.
“Sir they’re hailing us.”
“Put them through,” replied Raken.
His jaw dropped at least half a foot when he saw who his rescuers were.
“Well, Raken, nice seeing you here.” said Tom casually.
The captain stormed to life. “What are you doing here you traitor. You’re the one who led us into this trap.”
Tom’s eyes narrowed. “I, ‘Captain’ didn’t know anything about what was going to happen here. Right now I’m just trying to keep both our ships in one piece, so if you don’t mind, we can discuss this later. Just get your people out of here and we’ll hold them off while you leave. We’ll meet back at the base, hopefully. Rune out.”
Paris didn’t wait for the other man to say anything. He had had enough of him.
Tom looked around the bridge at the faces on it. Everyone stood at a console spare Xara and Satira. The Dezorisian was trying to keep the young child calm from where they sat in the command seats.
“Raken has just left, Rune,” said Danag.
“Good, it looks like we get to have all the fun now.”
Takma fumed as she saw the Resistance ship fly away. No one had ever escaped from her. She turned to Kail.
“Whatever you do don’t let that ship get away. I won’t loose it to the Resistance as well.”
He nodded. “Recalibrate the shielding,” he ordered. The new ship had managed to get through their shielding once but not twice. Kail had had it set at its lowest level since he was confident that no Resistance ship could penetrate it. Now not even this new vessel could hope to inflict any more damage to them.
“Fire two torpedoes now.” he ordered.
“Fire now.” said Janeway from Voyager’s bridge.
She watched as the Bonthos fired as well. The combined power of their weapons proved too much for their adversaries shielding and two shots penetrated through.
“Tuvok, what’s the damage on the vessel?” she asked. This new ship was almost the same size as Voyager; she needed to see if it was as powerful as well.
“Their weapon systems are down Captain.”
She nodded. “Try hailing them, if they don’t respond, attempt to beam the occupants into the brig.”
“Status!” ordered Tom.
Meylin let an angry fire grow over her face. “They’ve damaged our weapon systems. I can’t access any of the torpedoes from here.”
Sargon then broke in. “Somehow that shot damaged the computer system. It’s frozen us out of all primary systems. I can fix it but it’ll take a while.”
“We don’t have a while. What systems have we lost?” asked Paris.
“Communications, Weapons, Tacticianal, you name it, we lost it.”
He pondered for a second. “Is there any way to get them back on line?”
“I’ll have to hack into the central computer and reestablish a connection to all these systems.”
Paris had an idea. It was crazy, but then so was this scheme of his that got them into this.
“Hold on. I might be able to get us out of this.”
“They aren’t responding to our hails Captain.” said Harry.
Janeway considered this. “Can you beam their bridge crew over here, Harry.”
“Negative, their shields are still up.”
She nodded. “I don’t suppose we have much of a choice then. Tuvok target all primary systems and fire at will.”
*Okay, time for a miracle.* Paris told himself.
Linking himself back up to the computer, he tried to redirect all primary systems through him. He had already felt himself merge with the ship once before, all he had to do was hold onto it this time. Concentrating as hard as possible, he managed to get all the systems back online again. After redirecting the subroutines to their proper consoles, he stumbled onto something interesting.
While remaining hooked up to the computer, he asked Danag.
&
nbsp; “Danag,” he said. “Try and patch through a comm line to the Imperial ship.”
The shape shifter didn’t know what the other man was up to but he did as he was told.
“We’re being hailed.”
Takma pondered this. Few of her enemies addressed her during battle. She was amused. “Put them through.”
On the screen appeared the bridge crew of the enemy ship. She paled from her usual tan shade as she recognized the man sitting at the Helm.
“Hello, Takma.” Paris greeted her in the most casual manner.
“You!” she said. She hadn’t dreamed of ever seeing that man again.
“I see you remember me.”
“How could I forget. You destroyed one of my favorite research bases,” she said through clenched teeth. “Tell me do you have a name yet. I’d like to know what to address you as at your funeral.”
Aria took over for Paris. “His name is Rune.” She paused a minute as inspiration struck her. “Rune Landis. And I wouldn’t be so certain as to who is going to be dying.”
Takma gave a short laugh. “We’ll see,” she said and then ended the transmission. But that had already given Paris more than enough time.
Tuvok fired three torpedoes at the enemy ship. Not one hit its target. Those on Voyager’s bridge stared in awe at the skill at which the other ship evaded their weapon fire.
*Tom used to fly like that* thought Janeway with a bit of remorse.
The ship then fired its weapons on the Bonthos. Chakotay looked to Janeway. He seemed to ask: what’s your call?
“Take us in there, Mr. Baytart.”
She had stayed towards the sidelines long enough. Now it was time to show them just what she was made of.
Meylin fired weapons at the Bonthos. All on the bridge were astounded as their weapons actually penetrated the Imperial Ship’s shielding. All except Paris.
He was still linked up to the ship’s computer system so he knew exactly what was going on. After all, he had found the way to get through the Bonthos’s shields. By opening a comm-line to the other ship, he had used the signal to hack into the Bonthos’s main computer. From there it hadn’t been hard to disable their shields. The only thing wrong now was that the procedure had taken a lot more out of him than he had realized. He felt like his head was about to rip in half. But he paid no attention to this. He had to keep them out of the line of fire.